The main contribution by the interns will be to function as a research assistant to help with the labour intensive laboratory experiments, data analysis, and reporting tasks. The students will have a chance to work with the engineering staff at CHI and will provide additional support during the study.

Surface waters, such as lakes and rivers, often have high amounts of natural organic matter formed from decaying plants and animals. Drinking water treatment plants that use these water sources often face with high levels of carcinogenic chlorine disinfection by-products (DBPs) which are result of reaction between natural organic matters and chlorine that is added to water for disinfection. Canadian water quality guidelines set maximum acceptable levels for these harmful DBPs and hence water treatment plants are obliged to come up with appropriate solutions to meet the guidelines.

Global population growth, urbanization and changing climate patterns have increased the demand for potable water, wastewater reuse and value recovery from wastewater, and treatment of industrial process water. Population growth also results in increased demand for the shipping of goods by ocean freight, with the associated risk of the transport of unwanted marine life from one location to another by the discharge of ballast water.

The wastewater from laundries (greywater) is contaminated by several products and requires specific treatment to remove the various contaminants that are hazardous to the environment. Therefore, appropriate treatment system must be applied in order to reuse wastewater and minimize its release into the nature. The objective of this project is to develop a process for treatment of these kinds of wastewater without addition of chemicals by utilizing combined membrane filtration and adsorption processes.

The Acuva Technologies Inc. has designed and developed UV LED-based water purification machines. These machines are in their optimization stage for cost, complexity, and manufacturing time reduction. Adding some features such as graphical user interface, wireless connectivity and being self-powered increase the public popularity of these machines. Graphical LCD provides much more user-friendly interface by which the user has more control over the machine operation. Using PV solar cells to power the device when it is not easily accessible provides versatility to the machine.

Diamond-bearing kimberlites are enigmatic deposits due to their complex volcanic plumbing systems and variable preservation. Although geophysical methods are well established and effective exploration techniques, they require independent and costly constraints (e.g., drilling) to limit the number of plausible targets. There is thus a clear need to enhance interpretation of geophysical data to optimize target determination.

The vein-hosted gold deposits in the Bissett area of SE Manitoba have long produced significant amounts of gold and the area has the potential for future substantial discoveries. Given the strong structural control on ore formation, a concerted research effort has been conducted on the structural geology of the deposits. However, there are several outstanding questions, including the genetic relationship between the host rock and the ore.

Water quality concerns, such as algae blooms, are common in many aquatic systems across the country. Increasing development along waterfront properties and climate change are leading stressors causing poor water quality. In this project, an intern will apply a three-dimensional computer model to help understand how these stressors are contributing to poor water in Mississippi Lake, through a partnership between Queen’s University, the Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority and the Mississippi Lake Association.

Fraser River sockeye have become more difficult to manage due to climate change and increasing high adult in-river mortality events. Currently, managers use the difference between estimated lower river sockeye abundance at Mission hydroacoustic station and estimates of abundance attained on the spawning grounds through stock assessment; referred to as difference between estimates (DBE’s).

Hydraulic Fracturing or fracking has been extensively used in the extraction of hydrocarbon fuels in unconventional reservoirs. This process bears significant economic and environmental implications. The partner, ExGeo, has been providing professional services to the petroleum companies to monitor the fracking process using microseismic signals. To improve the precision of field monitoring and optimize the fracking process, this research will first try to understand the mechanics of fracking through highly controlled and fully instrumented laboratory experiments.